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Category Archives: lap steel

This visit has been a long time coming. In the past I’ve talked with Frankie a little at local steel jams here in Kansas City. And we’ve planned for a while to get together and sit down and have him talk, show me his secrets, and tell me stories.

Why? Because Frankie comes right out of the western swing and jazz traditions of the midwest where he’s spent most of his life (outside of his stint in Nashville and touring with Cowboy Copas.) For a fantastic bio on Frank see Mike Neer’s article about him on his blog.

And notably he’s one of the few who stuck to his guns with fixed tunings despite the fact he witnessed the evolution and rise in popularity of the pedal steel. (Though he has tried pedals – in fact he was selling his pedal steel at the time we visited.)

So, I was stoked and showed up to his place with my single-8 C6/A7 low F axe. This tuning is the one I know best for lap steel and in my mind the best tuning there is. And so I’m ready to learn some lap steel tricks and stories. That’s basically how I thought this visit would go.

But, here’s what I learned in one sentence: Go get more familiar with Leon McAuliffe’s E13 tuning because it’s jazzy as it gets. Frankie has used this tuning almost exclusively for decades. And does so because of his association with Leon McAuliffe. He knew him personally and Frankie’s band would fill in for Leon McAuliffe and His Cimarron Boys at the Cimarron Ballroom in Tulsa.

So, I left that day understanding I need to investigate Leon’s E13 tuning and come back.

And yeah, Frankie did tell me stories that made my head spin around like a top!

Edit: One more thing. I’m not the first guy to seek out Frankie because of his valuable connection to the past. Steel players with huge reputations for other tunings and approaches like Bill Dye, Russ Wever, (both of which are Kansas City guys), Lee Jeffries and Mike Neer have known this guy for a long time.

I’ve been playing around with two three-note chord grips or shapes for the C6/A7 low F tuning recently that have a really nice dark and smooth feeling to them. To me they sound a little more complex than a typical swing sixth “bar position” chord and are really easy to implement quickly. These help break me out of the same old first position playing or bar playing (i.e. Bb over the 10th fret.) I can’t use them with every song but if a song’s harmonic structure allows it, then it really sounds deep. I use my ear as the best judge. Great for a lot of western swing, jazz and blues.

Thelonious Monk’s Blue Monk seems to be a great piece to illustrate how this works. It’s chord structure is basically a 12-bar blues. I’ve recorded and tabbed out the head for both melody and rhythm tracks. I outline three grips overall. (No slanting!)

The Grips in the Melody:
The first one using strings 8, 5 and 3 (low to high) over the 5th fret in a Bb chord (or 1 chord). It uses chord tones: root, M7 and M3 (Bb, A and D.)

The second one using strings 7, 4 and 2 (low to high) over the 5th fret still over a Bb chord. It uses chord tones: M3, m7 and perfect 5 (D, C and F.)

I use one or sometimes both grips in measures one and two and measures five and six and the first grip each time at the end of the signature motive.

Rhythm Grips:
A third grip is used in the rhythm part and is easily applied to a thousand other blues or jazz pieces and another demonstration for the versatility of this tuning. And all three chords can be played just one or two frets from each other. The first chord: Bb7 (or I chord) uses strings 7, 6 and 4, (low to high) over the seventh fret. So that’s chord tones: 5b, 7 and M3 (E, G# and D).

Then moving to Eb7 (or IV chord) I move one fret down to the sixth fret. I stay on the same strings but the chord tones change. Now it’s 1, 3 and 7 (Eb, G and Db).

Eventually the F7 (or V chord) comes around and that’s one fret up from the Bb to the eight fret. Again, the same strings and again it’s chord tones 1, 3, 7 (F, A and Eb) .